With Guns Blazing
by All and Sundry
Summary: Poised to take over his father's enterprise, Seto finds his world and the one around it careening off its axis the night a stranger steps into the theatre and challenges him to a game. Where past and present collide, Seto is caught in the crossfire... : AU. Rating for language, violence, & sexual content. Started during NaNoWriMo 2014.
1. Chapter 1

Doors were thrown wide, nothing stood to bar passersby on the street side other than the rain dripping down the large awning, down neon lights blinking intermittently.

Still, without an invitation, not a soul would dare pass under the doors and into the sway.

Brassy notes tumbled, warm and patternless. Red and gold. Antiqued perches and gilt all.

Past bodies perched, sating appetites with rich sound and richer tastes, were shapely figures, gleaming trays in arm. The ladies whisked glasses to and fro. Filling and refilling with every flavour under the sun and quickly.

His choice was something pale. Gold and bubbled. Enough to enjoy yet still have a sense for the nails biting into his thigh, the choice to ignore...

"Seto, Seto," she purred in his ear, dragged fingers over the jaw turning her way.

"Mr. Kaiba," he amended, lips quirking upward when he successfully avoided a kiss.

Another kiss.

She couldn't keep in her huff of disappointment while he busied himself with his champagne once more and turned eyes to the tables.

The games went on. Dual-colour wheels spun. Dice rolled. A line of emerald tabletops and him seated at the one with fluttering cards.

"Mr. Kaiba, would you like in on this round?"

A smile in violet eyes lured, a well-manicured hand spreading out sepia cards of the deck. Her wrist moved and the deck played impromptu fan, lashes fluttering and the sight of a tiny black heart on her cheek peeked over the cards.

From all around the table, eyes turned from her to the man himself.

"One," he indicated with a finger. "Only one tonight."

Bodies ringing the table were sudden animation as laughter erupted.

A man at his side – where a woman wasn't occupying space – leaned, drink still neatly held as he seemed to snicker quietly.

"Another win to the spotless record," he declared with a kind of voice constantly urging on arrogance even if it only harmless prodding at the time, "but I'd happily mark it up if you'd like."

Quite immediately, Seto frowned as if the man's teasing had caused him some personal offense. Though, where his answer might have been acid, it was simple. "No."

"Nothing wrong with a little variety now and again," the dealer cut in. The corner of her smiling lips twitched and she swept thick blonde tresses off one shoulder. "Dealer's round, for old time sake?"

The man made a disapproving click with his tongue. "Oh stay _out_ of it, Valentine. Ladies don't play."

"Just because they won't play with_ you_ doesn't mean they don't play at all, Devlin."

Of course, an argument broke, whispers like shots back and forth across the table.

Seto ignored it but still mulled over the notion, hand slipping into his suit jacket, edges of cards grazing his fingertips familiarly. He placed a deck matching in colour to the dealer's on the table and shuffled it absently.

Nails bit at him again.

"Mr. Kaiba," a voice whispered.

And others would as well, a name, abridged work.

"_The boss."_

"_Gouzaburo."_

He followed her gaze, turning in his seat to look upon the scene behind him.

The place spread out below, long levels like a few massive steps and tables crowded on each. Crescents around a nearly bare stage; aside stood a group of musicians, sound taking on change with every movement of their hands along instruments. And lowering them, noise cut down slowly to a murmur as a single man stepped on stage.

Chatter fell as eyes turned below to him, one pair at a time. He seemed in no hurry to gather attention, taking time to pull his suit jacket closed, a set of silver buttons dotting deep grey.

"Good evening," his unenhanced voice boomed emphatically, just before he fiddled with the microphone in the stand nearby, turning it on and testing it with a tap. "I trust you're all enjoying yourselves." In some hurry to pass along standard courtesies, he waited for no reply, "I'd like to take this opportunity to express the very reason for this occasion, my son, Seto."

Where the place had gone quiet, it erupted again, heads and eyes lifting up to the named young man while applause and whistling roared.

He sat impassive, looking around. But the roar seemed to break through - he would blame the champagne - and he smiled, sending the sound even higher. It was only stayed when he raised a hand in graceful request for peace.

In time, even the clinking of glasses had quieted.

"Now..." Gouzaburo chose then to calculate his words, now that there were eager ears to make wait. Fingers spread, absently running over his mustache before he smiled though he had the sort of features which were perpetually smug. "As I step down, my son will—"

The crowd stirred in excitement, stayed once again with the raise of a hand.

"Seto will step up—"

His speech broke indefinitely as the place burst with sound. Once, he opened his mouth to continue but ultimately abandoned all efforts and let the crowd have what it wanted. He extended an arm, bidding the man of the hour come down if only to quell the crowd, as he stepped off stage.

Seto raised a hand in dismissal but hadn't turned his back. He seemed to consult those nearest, comments and calls urging him on.

"Well..." A deep voice filled the room and the place went silent.

Behind the microphone, a figure had appeared. He was never more out of place amidst the party, decorated less and strangely – rough jeans and ruddy sections of leather around his wrists and neck to gleam as well as the jacket pressed up his arms, more the fixture of some seedy bar than the lush theatre where he stood.

Both hands on the mic, he twisted it down some inches to his height, some of it heel and some of it the mess of hair atop his head which appeared to be a beauty student's experiments.

Dark eyes darted about the space, taking in the many faces on up to the blank one at the very top, his reason for being there.

"You can't very well grace the head of new king with a stolen crown.." he trailed and licked his lips quickly, "now can you..?"

He seemed to say no more, letting the implication stir bodies and whispers, and grinning when he saw it did.

One by one, faces turned to Seto as if to ask what he would say.

As the man on stage had been, Seto kept to his perch and seemed in no hurry, smoothing out his suit, hand touching to the knot of his tie.

And just as his acknowledgement had been, his words were slow. "You dare come into my club... And interrupt my party with such _nonsense_... I won't ask again, either remove yourself from the premises or be removed."

As if on cue, a couple of men near him shifted hands into pockets, one of them the ill-natured presence of earlier.

Standing there behind the mic, the stranger threw up both hands in front of him and stood there a time, as if to make certain his gesture was understood. "I'd prefer to keep the matter civil, Kaiba."

Seto set his jaw but had nothing to say to this point, understanding this presence less and less as time wore on. Still, he gestured and the men near were set at ease albeit only at command.

"All I want is what's rightfully mine," the young man went on. Absently, a hand moved to the column of flesh showing from under his open jacket, fingers clasping the cross hanging on a length of red beads against his stomach. "My place as the head of this organization."

Hearing this confirmed at last, whispers started up once more.

A clipped laugh like a bark left Seto, then more followed, the sound of laughter nearly echoing amidst silence.

Then it was silence no more as the people took after him, breaking steadily into laughter until the entirety of the place seemed to deem the concern over, some hands reaching to take up drinks again. Some backs turning as long-suspended conversations resumed.

The new boss, Seto, had given the order to have the man dealt with, there was nothing more to see. Nothing that had not been seen time and time again.

A pair of men had started down the long staircase cutting down the center.

The man on stage bristled and his youthful features distorted with anger, yet only for a moment. In the next, a smile bloomed and he leaned until his lips nearly brushed the mic in their quick movement. "Remember the second of August? Three years ago."

At the table, Seto sat, listening to the silence grow around him. The hand reaching for a glass began to shake.

That day.

In his senses, he felt all. The rhythmic thrum of music. Drowsy vocals in a language he hadn't known. The faint shuffle of fabric. Warmth of alcohol in his veins. Musky smoke trails curling out towards the sunrise.

Then the greyness of silence and the weight of a hundred stares pressed in against him. And he would have none of this.

Gasps sparked when Seto shoved away from the table and stood, fingers tightening around the gun directed to the lone figure on stage.

In response, the man hadn't so much as blinked. Rather, he spread his arms slowly as if to mark himself a target and a willing one at that, tilting his head as if to glean some new knowledge from the new perspective of the gunman above.

"How about a game?" he asked and licked his lips.

It was long moment but Seto hadn't lowered the gun. Still, the other spoke once more.

"You win, you do what you like. Throw me out, fit a bullet between my eyes," he said. His eyes appeared to brighten in spite of his words. "If I win, you give me back my crown..."

Seto's throat worked as he swallowed and adjusted grip on his gun. One shot and the problem would disappear.

Like it had never existed.

"Oh," he added, a grin daring to steal onto his face. "You give me back my crown and... stay on as my errand boy."

This was all it took for Seto to lower the gun and return it to confines of his suit jacket. If it was play he wanted, it was play he'd get.

"Name the game, Yuugi."

"Yours, of course," was the quip in response.

Seto folded his arms and waited, stares and excited whispers to chittering as he made his way nearer to the steps.

* * *

**. :** End 1 **: .**

* * *

Behold, the first chapter to my darling project of Nanowrimo 2014. While I didn't complete the challenge, I ended up with well over 20k words for this story.

I cannot begin to explain how thrilled I am to finally be presenting all this to you. If you enjoyed this and are as excited for the next part as I am, please considering following and leaving me a review! I'd love to hear your thoughts and questions.


	2. Chapter 2

Seeing the resignation for what it was, the now-named man, Yuugi, seized the microphone stand before him and cast the whole of it aside. The electronic screeched as it broke.

He pulled a deck of cards from a holster at his hip and gathered a handful right off the top. With a flick of his wrist, they scattered up into the air, lights catching their glossy surfaces in a flash.

Inexplicable winds rush from around him and people in the tables nearest the stage cried and rushed up to the next level and out of the way.

Air clawed at his clothes, threw hair against his face as the cards came shooting down in front of him, larger than life. Their readings kept faced to him while one in the centre burst in a shower of sparks that scattered into a heap on the floor. Said heap glimmered violet and drew up slowly and collected the winds themselves, they twisted and wrapped together ever tighter until a figure stood distinguished, tall and archaic.

A mage.

Robes of violet hung about his proud figure while he stood, emerald rod in hand slamming against the floor with thunderous, impossible volume.

Seizing the forgotten deck from the tabletop, Seto collected his own hand of cards and threw them out. While they took on larger shape, the rest of the deck was returned to the inner pocket where it had come from.

Directing a hand out to the center card, it too burst, though the shower hung there in the air, winds whipping, cutting through and making the light appear like shards. And more was required. On the ceiling, white lights in one of the large chandeliers extinguished, each glass casing erupting in a twinkling burst.

Below, people screamed, pressing out away from the center of the room while glass rained down.

Light took on shape, a bright beast appearing in a wind about the top of the long staircase. Wings thrown open, her neck rippled just before guttural sound poured forth. A roar to rattle glass, depth enough to pound at one's chest.

A dragon.

The figure made no reply in sound save for another drive of his staff against the floor.

At once, the two creatures dashed upon the air, the mage with weightless steps and the beast thunderous tramps under a serpentine twist.

In their crash upon one another, limb and part accepted recoil, glasses and dishes flew and shattered nearby.

As if angered, the beast curved her long neck and struck as a snake, maw cracking open.

With a grunt, the mage hefted up the weight of his instrument with both hands and barred the strike.

She cried, wrenching her head nearer and rising off foreclaws so that the most of her weight bore down upon the staff fixed in her jaw like a bit.

Under the immense weight, he struggled, arms quivering in efforts to hold back the other creature.

But it proved too much and he fell.

She snarled, all the more hasty for her prosperity in battle. Claws neared the floor once more and edged, pressing through the robes about the mage's chest slowly cutting, fabric then flesh.

Yuugi cried, a hand flying to his own chest as marks began to form there. Red beaded beneath his fingers and began to trail over contours slowly.

From above, Seto thought to seize this chance "End it!" he yelled, hoarsely.

At once, the beast let the staff loose, head snapping up and away. Her jaw opened steadily, as if it must crack under the force. Of light building swifting at the back of it's throat. Of fiery spirals of white and blue until the terrible mass began to seep between her teeth.

And the mage lay, transfixed by such terrible beauty.

"Quickly!" Yuugi screamed.

Reacting, the mage gripped his staff and swung it overhead. The doubly curved end hit the dragon's jaw with a satisfying crack.

She let loose an anguished cry and fell back, Seto having done the same. A hand had flown to the side of his face and he grimaced upon seeing the red smeared across his fingers, that of one trail from the corner of his mouth, the stinging spreading from his jaw in pulses.

Springing up, the mage rushed back and took post just before the stage again. Gathering up to his full height, he shifted the staff into the crook of an arm and pressed his palms together as if in prayer. His mouth moved, lips shaping soundlessly into what became a pattern. With the first repetition, a mark appeared gradually in the air, as if drawn by some hasty, unseen hand. His words grew louder, the same pattern, and another mark appeared.

Against the ceiling, another row of lights burst, one bulb right after another and seemed to spirit down into a once again stretching mouth. Air whistled as it drew in swifter than last time, the stomach of the beast swelling as fire gathered within.

In a swoop, wings were thrown out.

"Now!" Yuugi yelled, throwing out a hand.

One of the cards burst and marks formed the remaining half of the chain ringing the mage. Complete, colour beamed within while a column formed about his tall figure and rose beyond the point of his hat.

Just then, light broke from the beast and poured into a blast against the mage. It hit the column with a boom and crackled angrily across the surface as it split and disintegrated.

Yet the attack never stopped. It came as if from an endless well of power, luminous power chasing away all shadows.

"Until it breaks," Seto hissed.

She stepped slowly nearer and down the steps, blast pouring forth all the while.

"Hold out!" Yuugi yelled over the volume of the blast.

Winding, the dragon stepped nearer still until her head held just arms' length from the mage encased in his shielding spell.

But it wore...

The colour wavered, rippled. Then, silently, hair-thin cracks began to trail slowly outward from the blast.

While her stomach depressed, power still poured out and it was some wonder how great the store must be or which was greater, the reserves of luminous chaos or the mage's incantations made shield?

"Just hold out!" Yuugi's words were a desperate tear from his throat.

Though his mage could not.

The barrier shattered suddenly and the blast penetrated.

For the first time, the mage's volume sounded within his scream of pain.

The dragon beat its wings, sending a final gout from within as the store found an end.

Yuugi swayed on his feet, hands numbly falling away to reveal deep red and blackening scorch marks against his chest. Releasing a quivering breath, he fell onto one knee.

In his vision, the ruddy wooden boards of the stage swam before him, their lines blurrily doubling. Pressure sunk against his lungs, threatening to crush them within his body. The boom of laughter sounded in his ears and dimmed instantly.

"Kill him," came a rough bark.

Seto cast a look aside to see his father standing there, a cigar between ringed fingers and an impatient air about him. After all this chaos, all he cared about was a proper end to a problem.

Like always.

Seto's eyes turned to the cards before him. Throwing out an arm to one at his side, a dark length burst.

Around the kneeling mage, small shapes rose from the floor. They glinted and shot out, chain catching and looping about each wrist and jerked his arms apart and down against the floor.

Finding the end for what it was, the mage let loose a cry which broke off as his chin fell against his chest.

Somehow, Yuugi pushed to his feet and swayed, balance no more truly collected than it had been before. But he would face what was to come.

Tail curving nearer to her body, the dragon's head drew back slowly as it had at the very start.

Suddenly, a card burst before Yuugi.

The mage's head snapped up and his eyes burst with light, a single incantation issuing just before the great serpent struck, jaws flying open.

Inches before the mage, the dragon's head stopped. Like lights, its blue eyes flicked out both at once.

Aside, his staff clattered just as two long lines of red began to bead across the dragon's neck. Silently, she teetered and fell upon wing and side with a rumbling crash, red seeping into dark fibres of the carpet as her head lay cleaved from her neck.

Seto stumbled back, both hands at his throat. The crowd about him voiced their surprise and caught him as his back hit the edge of the table.

Perhaps it was only sheer pride that kept him on his feet for his mind was riddled with shock. The wet warmth of blood staining his hands was faint in his mind and all moved impossibly slow.

Seto's cards fell, reduced to their truer size, and lay over the carpet while Yuugi's did the same only returning to his hands as if of their own volition.

The figures of both warring creatures faded, leaving nothing but memory and splintered wood and pieces about the path of their fight.

On stage, Yuugi stood. His chest swelled with breath which left in a slow exhale. Even now, his fingers itched to scratch at the flesh slowly knitting back together. He could feel nothing else but that, the weight of realization settling upon his shoulders like the heaviness of some thick cape.

The crown was his once more.

Numbly, he stepped off stage and stooped as if to take up his handful of cards from the floor only to realise there was no need.

Above, Seto's hands fell, quivered. The weight of a hundred stares bored into him and more. The surprise. The shame.

He had failed.

Everyone.

His gaze snapped up, eyes darting about wildly and awaiting those of his father's.

The man thrust his hands into his pockets and dropped his cigar, crushing it underfoot. When his gaze found his son's, it held. Narrowed. And there were no words. Only disgust steadily saturating features. He turned walked away without a word.

* * *

**. : End 2 : .**

* * *

Hopefully that wasn't too bad. On to the next bit I suppose..


	3. Chapter 3

Along with Gouzaburo, the crowd of guests began to move about the space ever so slowly, collecting what off their coats and belongings they could find.

Waitresses descended from the wings and dealers from their stands, cleaning up what they were able to around smashed tables and chairs.

Muted sounds pressed through his consciousness, waking Seto with a sort of absence. Belatedly, he felt hands along his arms and back and freed himself from them now, turning to the tabletop behind as he saw Yuugi begin to climb the stairs.

"I can take care of this tonight," came a dark whisper near his ear.

"No, Duke…" he returned with a quivering breath. He raised a hand to his hair, nearly smoothing it back into place before he remembered the bloodstains across his palms. He'd wet them again, soon enough. "Not yet."

Seto quit the table and led the way up a short stairway on the far end of the theatre, Yuugi in tow.

Upstairs, a dim office just barely brightened with a single bulb greeted them.

At the door, Yuugi turned a fading smile to Seto, brow knitting over dark, searching eyes eventually falling to his neck and the lines of dried blood there.

"Are you alright..?"

He reached up for Seto's collar to have a look.

Yuugi became better acquainted with the door as Seto seized the leather over one small shoulder and shoved him back. He'd scarcely caught the breath he lost before he sucked in another, muscle depressing as if to get away from the cold barrel's end digging into still-tender ribs.

"And here I was thinking of splitting everything down the middle…" said Yuugi.

Fabric rustled.

Feeling the cold flat of a blade laid against his neck, Seto ground his teeth.

"I just want in a little while—"

"It doesn't _work_ like that."

"I know, that's why I played your game. Seto…" Yuugi shifted the blade under his jaw. "You don't have a choice. You owe me. Twiceover now. I'm here to collect, that's all."

"You're delusional," Seto said it as if it was the only possible conclusion. Then all acid and slow, he drawled, "I have no intention of handing over any part of what's rightfully mine."

"You already did. Don't you remember?"

Through the tinted windows, bodies below moved to clean in the half-lit theatre, their voices mere murmurs.

Yuugi stretched out an arm, card in hand. Over uncurling fingers, it lifted of its own volition and took long and luminous shape, extending up into a distinct flare. Light bled away and left gold in what looked like a staff.

It fell into Yuugi's awaiting hand.

Weapons lowered and, even before he moved to offer it to Seto, a cautious hand outstretched to receive.

Under dim light, it gleamed, all of it except the blackened hollow of an iris set into an eye at its head. Seto turned it slowly, if only for nostalgia. Whispers grazed his ears, in languages millennia old, gone in a blink.

"Yours. In exchange for a partnership."

Yuugi flipped his blade closed and pocketed it.

Any time, Seto would work at the details. Come up empty. Part those lips and ask.

"Why?"

Yuugi reached into his pocket and offered up its contents for Seto to see. This was a single stone in a bright shade of blue he knew all too well.

But he'd never seen it with green rivulets like this.

"This is what Pegasus wants."

* * *

The following afternoon, they met on the tarmac.

Seto's black coat whipped against his neck as he stepped across the blustery pavement to where Yuugi stood. Hands in his pockets, Yuugi looked every bit as dark in a suit and tie fitted to his thin frame.

He nodded graciously and smiled, all the more at the scowl in reply, and led the way into a thrumming jet.

Not yet an hour later, clouds drew slowly by the round windows.

Speakers crooned drowsily through incessant drone of the aircraft where they sat opposite one another.

"I don't suppose you'd care to reveal the destination of this little trip…" Seto said, easing back in his seat.

His investment in the possibility of an answer faded. Chin resting on a fist, he peered out thick glass, eyes running over the rises and falls of the clouds.

"When's the last time someone surprised you?" Yuugi didn't hide the yawn punctuating his question.

At length, Seto spoke.

"A while."

The jet took to the skies smoothly.

Some time later, Seto made a point to catch Yuugi's gaze.

Without a word, Yuugi reached into his coat pocket. Seto caught the contents with a deft snap of his wrist. The blue and green stone gleamed in his palm.

"It's started to crystalize."

"Grab the rod." Yuugi nodded at the silver briefcase in a nearby seat.

Seto took up the weighted gold from inside of it. No sooner had he wrapped fingers around it than the stone in his other hand began to change, the green parts slowly expanding, eating away at the blue as it did. Suddenly, his chest felt tight and, out of instinct, he let the rod drop back into the briefcase. The growth and pressure stopped.

"There's the drawback…" Yuugi sighed and slouched back into his seat. "It takes energy."

_Pegasus_.

"He must have figured out what it does."

"Farther…"

The proverbial wheels spun and ticked in Seto's mind.

Eventually, his gaze fell aside to the rod.

"Another item."

* * *

Behind tinted car windows, the swoop of slowing propellers dulled and gradually died.

Streetlamps faded into the dark and came back one by one.

City to city.

Tires rumbled over the cobblestone plaza where the road ended. Doors shut one after another and the unoccupied limousine disappeared into the night, leaving them surrounded by little shops and people watching the city lights waver over the dark surface of the ocean.

Closing his eyes, Seto heard the evening. Waves rushing quietly. Lilting, laughing voices.

Europe.

He remembered.

He found Yuugi's eyes on him and felt they might have been for a while, like he'd been waiting for that sign of realisation, just to meet it with a small smile.

Boot heels clacked against stone as Yuugi climbed a rising side street and Seto trailed, long strides not overtaking Yuugi's shorter ones, as he took in surroundings.

Shops thinned until the brightest light came from a restaurant a little ways on. A restaurant, Seto knew, scents both fresh and rich teasing his senses.

"You better have more on the agenda besides your stomach."

His remark earned Yuugi's sudden turn.

"I do."

Where the restaurant lacked elegance, there was warmth. Beyond a curtain of wooden beads the place spread, dust swept and graying between the stones of a patternless floor. Tables stood almost clear, finery beginning and ending with white linen draped over and clusters of candles atop each.

A dark, towering man appeared from the far side of the place, bringing a waft of scents from the kitchen with him. Nodding in silent greetings, he left them at a table near the street then disappeared back into the kitchen.

Taking a seat, Seto went all crosses, legs and arms, and gazed over the foliage of the surrounding wall.

"Relax, would you?" Yuugi urged, leaning on his arms.

Seto pulled his from their fold and laid hands near one knee with some amount of grace.

"Thank you."

Questions came to Seto's mind but before he could ask, something - or some _things_ \- assaulted his senses.

The man set out an array atop white dishes. Swirls of pasta. In another, thick leaves of some kind tossed together. Still another, cuts of some yellow vegetable poked from a mix of others. All these and more, note after savoury note drifting up with curls of steam.

Even Seto wouldn't deny the sight proved tempting, if anyone had asked.

Lastly, he set down glasses and bottle with gold letters looping across a crisp label and turned to leave. Seto's brows rose after he read it and about then, Yuugi spoke up but the refusal went unheard.

With a short laugh, Seto reached to pull a dish nearer to him, took a bite, and all but dropped his fork.

"Good isn't it?" Yuugi smiled slowly.

Silently, Seto returned to sampling.

Silverware clinked and chimed warmly amidst the muted sounds of the city.

And neither spoke for a while.

Yuugi took it upon himself to fill both glasses and set the bottle down with a soft thud.

"This was the label I sent you, remember?" he asked, taking up his glass.

"Ten years younger, yes," Seto answered, belatedly lifting his glass to finish the toast.

"Really?" Yuugi pulled the bottle closer and squinted at the label. "Damn."

Some time later, when the bottle of wine had grown lighter and silverware lay atop cleaned dishes, Yuugi's gaze fixed in the direction of the kitchen.

The air changed.

Seto straightened in his seat, frowning briefly as he realised just how much he'd fallen at ease.

Out from the passage back to the kitchen, a man appeared, sweeping a thick section of blond hair away from his proud face. Along with a sliver of dark skin, bright gold bands peeking out from the collar of an unbuttoned shirt. Though he was young, everything about him spoke to age and wealth.

He approached with open arms, as did Yuugi, and clapped the younger man on the back. Just after this, the pair did a sort of touch of faces, one side then another, that Seto only then recalled as some innate part of the culture here.

"Long time no see, Marik," said Yuugi. "Kaiba, this is Ishtar."

Sharp eyes flicked from Yuugi to Seto.

"A pleasure." The man marked as Marik offered with a tight smile.

Greetings through, the two took a seats while another was pulled up to the table.

"How was everything?" Marik asked.

"Perfect," Yuugi chirped, glancing at Seto with a smile.

"Excellent." The way Marik lounged back in his chair, it might have been a throne. "Now… You said you had something to ask me. Or… should I guess?"

"If you'd like," Yuugi laughed.

"I think…" Marik steepled his hands, index fingers tapping his lips as a grin slowly slinked across them. "You've found another vein, haven't you?"

"Not exactly…" Yuugi trailed. "The old one's got a pulse again."

Seto felt his heart stumble in its patterns.

"And stolen right out from under your nose on top of that…" Marik gave a low whistle. "I doubt you flew out here just to tell me that."

"That would depend on you."

Marik's grin turned smug.

"Then you're here to ask for her."

Her…?

Seto's gaze flicked aside. Yuugi met his eyes and nodded.

"I don't know how Pegasus found out but…" Yuugi sighed. "He's got the mine. And this."

He held up the blue and green stone for all to see.

"This is why you need her."

Yuugi didn't have to answer.

Sitting back in his chair, Marik rested on one arm, a grin stealing over his features all over again.

"I know how deep the mine goes. We'll play for half."

"A quarter," Seto cut in. He pretended not to notice the bewildered glance Yuugi shot him. "All you're bringing to the table is convenience."

Marik cut in with a sigh as loud as it was frustrated but Yuugi pressed Seto's counter. .

"Final offer."

Marik extended a hand and the two shook in accord on the matter.

Business concluded, the three rose.

"Give me time," Marik said, glancing from one of the men up to the other. "I'll send her to you. She will get you back into the mine."

"Thank you," Yuugi stepped forward.

Marik engaged in a last embrace and offered something of a bow for Seto.

Boots sounded against stone once more as the two left the restaurant behind and ventured back down the side street.

"Seems like a shame to go straight back," Yuugi told Seto. "If it was up to me—"

"I'd never leave."

Yuugi smiled.

"I wonder if that little hotel's still here…"

It was.

Later in the night found the pair here within the third floor, taking up opposite ends of a sofa. Bottles every shape and size imaginable, too many of them empty, sat on the coffee table.

"Hey this is the same room…" Yuugi giggled. He tried to sit up straight, a glass in one hand and the other clutching the sofa top for stability. "You remember…?"

"Yes," Seto answered quietly. Thoughts floated in his mind, swimming along without proper ties to one another though not unpleasantly so. Had anyone asked, he would not have said anything in the world was unpleasant then.

"You were so eager," Yuugi declared as if amazed and dissolved into giggles. He lost his grip and fell face first into the cushion between them.

"Shut up," Seto snapped far too late for the words to carry any real venom.

"No!" The couch muffled Yuugi's declaration. He hoisted himself up with a grunt and lifted his glass to his lips only to find it empty. He offered it a confused frown before moving closer to Seto. "You remember, right? I remember…"

He cast his glass a sudden thoughtful look and leaned, making his colourful mane messier as he laid his head on Seto's shoulder.

The radio crooned drowsily on the windowsill.

"You were pretty though." Yuugi sounded like he might drift off to sleep. "Still are."

Seto laid his head against the back of the couch and shut his eyes. Belatedly, a laugh left him in one breath, the little jostle enough to rouse Yuugi.

"You're fucking drunk."

"Don't curse," Yuugi complained breathily. "It's fucking true though…"

It took him a moment, and some grunt for the effort, but Yuugi shifted himself upright and stared. Somehow Seto felt the weight of the gaze.

"Fuck if I know," Yuugi sighed and raked a hand through his hair. "You got these eyes though…" He turned and pushed up onto his knees, leaning against Seto's shoulder and then further in. Then he whispered as if sharing some great secret. "I'm gonna kiss you, okay?"

Warm breath ghosted Seto's lips as fingers dragged along his cheek. Yuugi leaned up and pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth, scowling when Seto laughed.

He'd missed.

Yuugi huffed and swung a leg over Seto's, wedging a knee between his thighs. Small fingers twisted into Seto's hair like he would've gotten away otherwise. Like they weren't already slipping away. Alcohol-heavy pants filling up the room even before their lips met. Finally.

Suddenly a shriek pierced the night.

Then everything shook.

Glass bottles tumbled to the floor in a twinkling chorus.

More terrified cries and shaking followed.

From the window, Seto and Yuugi searched and found it in the square below. A shape with heavy arms slowly bowling into a building.

Lights flickered on in rapid succession and were gone in the next moment, the creature smashing through the fourth story. With weighty steps it drew back, dust and stones tumbling down towards the street before the other half of the building gave and crumbled.

Screams broke out, sending on dozens more lights and bodies scattering from nearby buildings.

The creature moved slowly on to the next building, its white hair gleaming as it passed under a streetlight. It was a hunched, leporine thing with a swollen stomach, talons grating and cracking stone under its weight.

"It's him," Seto said quietly.

His monster was unmistakable.

With a growl, Yuugi took off and Seto caught up.

The door to the roof came open with a burst and the pair had thrown cards in the next moment. The handfuls scattered in the dark and took larger shape, one from each bursting and collecting the winds in their own ways until their fullness of their shapes was realised once more.

The mage kneeled, leaning on his staff as the emerald at its end crackled angrily with gathering power.

"Pegasus!" Yuugi shouted into the night.

The creature turned, snout swinging about as peered up with one narrowed, red eye.

The dragon curled and loomed at the edge of the roof, the picture of a gargoyle if not for the steam pouring from between her teeth. She turned her head, training a blue eye on Seto touched a hand to her scaled neck.

"Cut him down," he calmly commanded.

With a wavering roar, she took to the dark skies while the mage leapt to another roof then another, the both of them steadily making their way nearer to the lumbering creature.

Across the street, atop another roof, tell-tale light from a card burst.

Below, the creature's eyes snapped wide. It stomped quickly over to the hotel and swung an arm back in a sudden rush. The limb thundered through the building.

Seto and Yuugi leapt aside to different rooftops just before the creature's arm tore up through the hotel roof.

"It's us you want," Yuugi called, loud and excited. "Enough playing."

With a whistle, the dragon spiralled from the sky, ending the sound with a burst of her wings. She held in the air. Nearby streetlights shattered as her jaw opened and light gathered, steadily brightening the scene below into view.

Even with renewed speed, the creature couldn't avoid the blast. It hit deftly, a stream of destructive light tearing though white hide and flesh. And there was no cry of pain even while the creature's hideous face distorted more and more until the blast ended.

Twisting back up into the air, the dragon circled. The creature's hide was so thick there were only burns.

"Closer," Seto yelled.

And she began in compliance, light sparking between her teeth as she circled overhead, waiting.

The mage took to action now, leaping down from a single story building to the square.

The introduction was too tempting. The creature turned and descended onto its forepaws, appearing more the hare it took after. A single bound put it closer.

Across the street, on a rooftop, light from another card burst.

The creature shifted up of his forelimbs as talons burst from its paws and raised these new blades raised to the mage. Green and violet whipped as he brought up his staff and bat the appendage back.

With terrible silence, the creature recoiled and lunged again, this time wrenching the staff from its wielder and sending it crashing into the sea.

The weapon gone, the creature bore down on the retreating mage, drawing him into its newly-clawed grasp.

"No," Yuugi's shout broke into a gasp.

Pressure closed in around his lungs. He stumbled towards the scene below as it slowly smeared before his eyes. He couldn't breathe.

A hand gripped his shoulder and jerked him back from the edge of the roof.

As the creature's grasp tightened, Yuugi felt his pulse rocket, panic setting in when his lungs refused to fill with desperately-needed breath. The last of it left him in a silent scream as his ribs splintered within him.

Lights began to blink out one by one before Yuugi's eyes.

With a swoop of her wings, the dragon dropped from the sky, rounding her fire into a single jet. Fire landed dead against the creature's back with a boom and sent it lurching a step forward.

The dragon's wings snapped in, flight abandoned as she fell against the creature's back, claws sinking as far through hide as they were able. Anything to hold on. She struck, the most of her fangs burying into the junction of the creature's neck and shoulder.

Again, it didn't make a sound even as its face shifted with pain. It let go of the mage and thrust one great paw back at the dragon. But she only dug in with renewed effort while the reaching back grew more frantic, prey stumbling about and twisting.

Seto's gaze flicked from the fight to Yuugi there on his knees. He heard him suck in breath and groan low, bones beginning to mend themselves slowly bit by bit.

He needed more time.

Between teeth still sunk into the creature's flesh, light gathered steadily until it began to beam in jagged lines and sections. The creature stumbled and fell against a building in its wild efforts to shake the dragon.

Dragon fire continued to gather, flickering out from between her teeth.

Suddenly, the creature turned its back to a building and fell, crushing the dragon between its weight and the structure.

Light burst with a screech loud enough to echo and died as the building caved in on both monsters.

Dust rose in a silent cloud.

Below, the heap moved, stone sliding away to show patches of white, either fur or scale, as monsters beneath stirred.

A length of gleaming dark reached for pale fur, a spined arm thrust down through the rubble to wrench the creature up by an ear.

The beast rivaled in size and shape, sleek coat gleams and shadows over the prominent muscle of its somewhat-human frame. His chest and shoulders swelled out into thick arms, massive spines protruding here around his hound-like head.

His thin snout hung open as he panted slowly, the noise laboured as if by forced patience.

The leporine creature fought in response, tearing out of grasp as lips curled over doubled rows of teeth. It lunged and the beast darted behind it and caught its face with bared paws.

Seeming to know its fate, the creature pressed forward, shaking its head wildly as it tried to free itself from the claws and spines digging into the softer flesh of its mouth and tongue even while teeth pierced in turn.

From a drop on one knee, Seto cast a look to Yuugi in time to see him lift his head. Then a card burst before him.

Rock and debris scattered as if by a shockwave and the mage burst forth and in the midst of a silent chant. Light glowed slowly, ringing the creature's neck like a collar. When the spell was complete, it stood like stocks, binding the furred thing to the spot. The mage dropped his hands and leapt to the rooftops, quite immediately falling onto a knee, still winded.

With a savage roar, the beast jerked its paws apart and a deafening crack echoed off the mountains as a jaw broke in two.

The dragon twisted reverently around the creature's jaw, her own opening in increments as blue-white light brimmed from within her. Then came the attack she'd savoured, lighting tearing loose into the creature's opened mouth.

A shriek ripped from the creature's throat.

Sound and light died as the beast let go.

The creature fell, blood and steam pouring from its mouth.

One by one, the monsters and cards dissolved into the air.

Silence loomed.

A handful of cards pressed back into his pocket, Seto peered across the rooftops.

Boots clacked against the roof as a figure, Marik, knelt near Yuugi and pulled the young man's arm around his shoulders, carefully helping him up.

* * *

Out in the square, the three stood.

It took some convincing but Marik let Yuugi go, hovering only until he saw the man stand on his own.

Little words exchanged between them. Marik bid them goodnight and safe travels, urging them to return home. Even with Pegasus gone, his eyes were still everywhere.

Marik left the two standing before the remains of the hotel.

Some moments passed on in silence.

Having his fill of the memories laying in the debris, Yuugi patted himself in spots, wincing every so often. He found what he was looking for inside his suit jacket: a silver lighter. With a few clicks, it lit red stayed open. Yuugi's a sigh made the tiny flame dance then he tossed it.

Flames sprang up and spread, soon consuming the crumbled and splintered remains of the hotel.

* * *

. : End 3 : .

* * *

Pegasus's creature was, yes, a rabbit. Marik's beast was a duel monster called The End of Anubis. Thanks Gweniveve Skyes for giving me the idea. The last spell card used was Spellbinding Circle so that we could have the bewd go Godzilla on Pegasus's rabbit. And I think that's it... If you're still keeping up with this, thank you. I sincerely appreciate it.


End file.
